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Notes on Beebalm & Rose

Posted Oct 02 2008 12:50pm

A sweet birthday gift from Wolf, who does a beautiful portrait for me every year. It’s about enough to give me a big head. Here I’m holding an armful of the aromatic and lovely Beebalm that blooms on my birthday each year.

Speaking of Beebalm (again), I’ve made an infused honey with Beebalm flowers, Wild Rose petals and Evening Primrose flowers and buds that seems to be about the best burn dressing I’ve ever tried, especially for serious burns where there’s a chance of infection. I originally came up with this formula via tinctures for minor burns and it worked so well that I converted it to a honey for to use in cases where the skin is broken or for long term healing.

And hey, if you don’t have any burns to use it on, it tastes GREAT and is a lovely addition to a cool summer tea or flax seed muffin. It’s also really nice for all kinds of gut trouble, especially those related to flora imbalances. Just don’t overdo the amount because even though it’s honey it’s still sugary. On that note, check out this interesting little study on the effect of Rosa rugosa petals on gut bacteria. Yeah, it’s on R. rugosa but how much you wanna bet that applies to the various spp. of Wild Roses as well?

Here’s a little quote from the study:

“ R. rugosa petal showed selective antibacterial activities against intestinal and pathogenic bacteria, and the selectivity resembled that of prebiotics such as oligosaccharides and dietary fiber. “

Thanks to Paul Bergner for bringing the study to my attention. And of course this isn’t the only, or even primary way that Rose acts upon the body and the digestive system in particular, but it is an interesting tidbit to add to our current understanding of the whole plant and its effect on the whole body.

Traditional systems of medicine such as Unani Tibb, Ayurveda and TCM (among others) have been using Rose petals or hips to treat various kinds of digestive disturbance. Once again, the cutting edge of science confirms what traditional peoples have known for millennia. Funny that.